Titans have a need for speed

Created 04/25/2008 - 12:03am

Maybe Adam “Pacman” Jones will be able to help the Tennessee Titans after all.

The Titans declined comments regarding Jones until his trade to the Dallas Cowboys is completed with new contract details and approval from the NFL, but did talk about the fourth-round pick they received from the Cowboys to initiate the transaction.

The pick, No. 126 overall, could net the Titans either a useful player in exchange for the suspended cornerback or perhaps they could use it in a package to move up on Saturday in either the first or second round. In all, the Titans now have three fourth-round choices, including one compensatory pick (No. 135) that cannot be traded.

“I think it’s a very good thing,” general manager Mike Reinfeldt said. “To me, the fourth round, you can find a lot of quality players in the fourth round. At the same time, the fourth round gives you the ability to move up in the first round, move up in the second or move up in the third substantially to help if you spotlight a guy that you want to go get and still not hurt your overall draft. The fact that you have three fourths helps greatly.”

In particular, the Titans are looking to get faster at the skill positions, no matter what they do with their eight draft picks.

Reinfeldt perhaps put it best in talking about the need for playmakers who can run.

“It is a high, high priority,” he said. “Just the ability to move the ball up and down the field; we need to do something to address that and get more speed on our offense. So that is a high priority for us.”

Mike Ackerley, Eastern director of college scouting for the Titans, says there are a number of quality playmakers at running back, if the team goes in that direction.

“You’ve got, if you want to call them, change-of-pace backs in [Chris] Johnson and [Felix] Jones that can catch the ball; they can return kicks; they’re explosive,” Ackerley said. “Once they get the ball in their hands and once they break the line of scrimmage, they’re going. [Jonathan] Stewart from Oregon, he’s as good a back as there has been in the draft in a couple years. That guy is unbelievable.”

National supervisor of college scouting C.O. Brocato, a veteran of 33 years with the club, says the Titans can find some playmakers in this draft.

“Of the running backs that I’ve seen, I think they’re pretty good quality. They’re circled up there. They’re going to be playmakers,” Brocato said. “If they get in the clear, they can get you six. It’s the same way with the receivers.”

Scouting coordinator Blake Beddingfield said the draft holds a lot of variety, and that the Titans should be able to fill whatever holes remain on the roster, especially on offense.

“I think at the running back position and at the receiver position, there’s a little something for everyone,” Beddingfield said. “There’s big, physical wide receivers. There’s little, speed wide receivers as well as at the running back position.”

And finding some of those to complement quarterback Vince Young is the key, says Reinfeldt, to the Titans taking the next step as a contending franchise.

“We made the playoffs, and we accomplished some things,” Reinfeldt said. “But I think we realized that to get to the next level, to help Vince, to get some playmakers is an important step in that process to get to the next level.”